How YSL used accessories to propel the brand message at PFW S/S17

How do you make your stamp on a fashion house which is synonymous with the changing the womenswear game under its founding designer, and reinventing the game under your predecessor Hedi Slimane? For Saint Laurent’s new creative director Anthony Vaccarello, he let the accessories make a louder statement than the clothes.

Last night’s debut saw Vaccarello bringing the focus to footwear and accessories to push the brand message forward. In contrast to Slimane’s cohesive themes of grunge romanticism and extreme silhouttes, Vacarello’s collection dug through Saint Laurent’s extensive archive of logos and iconography, making the symbols into covetable accessories.

In a marketplace where consumers are more brand aware than ever, many luxury labels have turned their very provenance into a product. At Gucci, Alessandro Michele took inspiration from bootlegged Gucci merch and turned it into a legitimate t-shirt from the brand. In a similar move, Gucci tapped street artist GucciGhost for a capsule collection inspired by his own unofficial interpretations of the Gucci monogram.

Vaccarello’s use of the YSL logo signals a return-to-roots for the label, which was rebranded as “Saint Laurent Paris” under the tenure of Hedi Slimane. It’s also a case of things coming full circle. After all, esteemed fashion critic Cathy Horyn panned Slimane’s debut collection for the house, saying the clothes had “less value than a box of Saint Laurent labels.” How appropriate then, for Vaccarello to turn the very label into a new kind of statement item.